In rotary drilling of subterranean wells numerous functions and characteristics are expected of a drilling fluid. A drilling fluid should circulate throughout the well and carry cuttings from beneath the bit, transport the cuttings up the annulus, and allow their separation at the surface. At the same time, the drilling fluid is expected to cool and clean the drill bit, reduce friction between the drill string and the sides of the hole, and maintain stability in the borehole's uncased sections. The drilling fluid should also form a thin, low permeability filter cake that seals openings in formations penetrated by the bit and act to reduce the unwanted influx of formation fluids from permeable rocks.
Drilling fluids are typically classified according to their base material. In oil base fluids, solid particles are suspended in oil, and water or brine may be emulsified with the oil. The oil is typically the continuous phase. In water base fluids, solid particles are suspended in water or brine, and oil may be emulsified in the water. The water is typically the continuous phase. Pneumatic fluids are a third class of drilling fluids in which a high velocity stream of air or natural gas removes drill cuttings.
Three types of solids are usually found in water base drilling fluids: 1) clays and organic colloids added to provide necessary viscosity and filtration properties; 2) heavy minerals whose function is to increase the drilling fluid's density; and 3) formation solids that become dispersed in the drilling fluid during the drilling operation.
The formation solids that become dispersed in a drilling fluid are typically the cuttings produced by the drill bit's action and the solids produced by borehole instability. Where the formation solids are clay minerals that swell, the presence of either type of formation solids in the drilling fluid can greatly increase drilling time and costs.
Clay minerals are generally crystalline in nature. The structure of a clay's crystals determines its properties. Typically, clays have a flaky, mica-type structure. Clay flakes are made up of a number of crystal platelets stacked face-to-face. Each platelet is called a unit layer, and the surfaces of the unit layer are called basal surfaces.
A unit layer is composed of multiple sheets. One sheet is called the octahedral sheet, it is composed of either aluminum or magnesium atoms octahedrally coordinated with the oxygen atoms of hydroxyls. Another sheet is called the tetrahedral sheet. The tetrahedral sheet consists of silicon atoms tetrahedrally coordinated with oxygen atoms.
Sheets within a unit layer link together by sharing oxygen atoms. When this linking occurs between one octahedral and one tetrahedral sheet, one basal surface consists of exposed oxygen atoms while the other basal surface has exposed hydroxyls. It is also quite common for two tetrahedral sheets to bond with one octahedral sheet by sharing oxygen atoms. The resulting structure, known as the Hoffman structure, has an octahedral sheet that is sandwiched between the two tetrahedral sheets. As a result, both basal surfaces in a Hoffman structure are composed of exposed oxygen atoms.
The unit layers stack together face-to-face and are held in place by weak attractive forces. The distance between corresponding planes in adjacent unit layers is called the c-spacing. A clay crystal structure with a unit layer consisting of three sheets typically has a c-spacing of about 9.5×10−7 mm.
In clay mineral crystals, atoms having different valences commonly will be positioned within the sheets of the structure to create a negative potential at the crystal surface. In that case, a cation is adsorbed on the surface. These adsorbed cations are called exchangeable cations because they may chemically trade places with other cations when the clay crystal is suspended in water. In addition, ions may also be adsorbed on the clay crystal edges and exchange with other ions in the water.
The type of substitutions occurring within the clay crystal structure and the exchangeable cations adsorbed on the crystal surface greatly affect clay swelling, a property of primary importance in the drilling fluid industry. Clay swelling is a phenomenon in which water molecules surround a clay crystal structure and position themselves to increase the structure's c-spacing thus resulting in an increase in volume. Two types of swelling may occur.
Surface hydration is one type of swelling in which water molecules are adsorbed on crystal surfaces. Hydrogen bonding holds a layer of water molecules to the oxygen atoms exposed on the crystal surfaces. Subsequent layers of water molecules align to form a quasi-crystalline structure between unit layers which results in an increased c-spacing. Virtually all types of clays swell in this manner.
Osmotic swelling is a second type of swelling. Where the concentration of cations between unit layers in a clay mineral is higher than the cation concentration in the surrounding water, water is osmotically drawn between the unit layers and the c-spacing is increased. Osmotic swelling results in larger overall volume increases than surface hydration. However, only certain clays, like sodium montmorillonite, swell in this manner.
Exchangeable cations found in clay minerals are reported to have a significant impact on the amount of swelling that takes place. The exchangeable cations compete with water molecules for the available reactive sites in the clay structure. Generally cations with high valences are more strongly adsorbed than ones with low valences. Thus, clays with low valence exchangeable cations will swell more than clays whose exchangeable cations have high valences.
In the North Sea and the United States Gulf Coast, drillers commonly encounter argillaceous sediments in which the predominant clay mineral is sodium montmorillonite (commonly called “gumbo shale”). Sodium cations are predominately the exchangeable cations in gumbo shale. As the sodium cation has a low positive valence (i.e. formally a +1 valence), it easily disperses into water. Consequently, gumbo shale is notorious for its swelling.
Clay swelling during the drilling of a subterranean well can have a tremendous adverse impact on drilling operations. The overall increase in bulk volume accompanying clay swelling impedes removal of cuttings from beneath the drill bit, increases friction between the drill string and the sides of the borehole, and inhibits formation of the thin filter cake that seals formations. Clay swelling can also create other drilling problems such as loss of circulation or stuck pipe that slow drilling and increase drilling costs. Thus, given the frequency in which gumbo shale is encountered in drilling subterranean wells, the development of a substance and method for reducing clay swelling remains a continuing challenge in the oil and gas exploration industry.
One method to reduce clay swelling is to use salts in drilling fluids. Salts generally reduce the swelling of clays. However, salts flocculate the clays resulting in both high fluid losses and an almost complete loss of thixotropy. Further, increasing salinity often decreases the functional characteristics of drilling fluid additives.
Another method for controlling clay swelling is to use organic shale inhibitor molecules in drilling fluids. It is believed that the organic shale inhibitor molecules are adsorbed on the surfaces of clays with the added organic shale inhibitor competing with water molecules for clay reactive sites and thus serve to reduce clay swelling.
Organic shale inhibitor molecules can be either cationic, anionic, or nonionic. Cationic organic shale inhibitors dissociate into organic cations and inorganic anions, while anionic organic shale inhibitors dissociate into inorganic cations and organic anions. Nonionic organic shale inhibitor molecules do not dissociate.
It is important that the driller of subterranean wells be able to control the rheological properties of drilling fluids by using additives, including organic shale inhibitor molecules. In the oil and gas industry today it is desirable that additives work both onshore and offshore and in fresh and salt water environments. In addition, as drilling operations impact on plant and animal life, drilling fluid additives should have low toxicity levels and should be easy to handle and to use to minimize the dangers of environmental pollution and harm to operators. Any drilling fluid additive should also provide desirable results but should not inhibit the desired performance of other additives. The development of such additives will help the oil and gas industry to satisfy the long felt need for superior drilling fluid additives which act to control the swelling of the clay and drilled formations without adversely effecting the rheological properties of drilling fluids. The present invention addresses this need.